


He would stay forever

by ItsAshippersWorld



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-10-23 15:29:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17686133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsAshippersWorld/pseuds/ItsAshippersWorld
Summary: Maria inadvertently tells Michael everything he needed to hear





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fic but I just love these two!

Maria ran her hand idly through Michael's curls, his head shifted in her lap slightly as he settled under her touch. She had grown used to these long silences from Michael - he never seemed to have grown out of that brooding teenager phase - but she wasn't really around for his sparkling conversation and wit. They had been sleeping together for a few weeks now. She wasn't really sure how it had started. One too many shots in the Wild Pony, a meaningful stare and twenty minutes later she was pulling her dress down. The arrangement suited her nicely - Michael was good in bed, easy on the eye and not interested in anything more. In comparison to her last relationship and the emotional drain it had put on her this was a welcome change of pace.

Michael shifted again and cleared his throat slightly, "so you got plans for this weekend?" 

Maria laughed a little "you asking me on a date Guerin?" She waited a beat just to make him sweat a little and continued "I have tomorrow night off work for once, first Friday in like forever, which is good because Liz and I have big plans" She heard a noncommittal noise from Michael and tugged slightly on his hair "don't ask me a question if you don't want to hear the answer!" He laughed.

"So what are these super-secret, highly-important plans of yours and Liz's then? You going to braid each others hair and talk about boys?" Michael earned himself a gentle smack on the head in response.

"Actually, I will have you know that we need to say goodbye to an old friend, who is once again leaving town too soon, but obviously he doesn't know we are plotting so in the highly unlikely event you run into Alex in the next eighteen hours I would be super grateful if you didn't say anything and allow it to remain a surprise"

Maria noticed Michael pause for a long moment before he suddenly moved, wrapping his good hand around her calf and giving it a distracted stroke, "so the private is shipping out again is he? I hope you remind him to take care of that leg this time" The forced joke fell flat between them but Maria ignored it - she expected nothing less from Michael, whenever emotion came near him, even when it wasn't direct at him, he turned from it. 

"Between you and me" she said as she resumed playing with his curls, "I am pretty sure he has had a bad breakup and just wants to get away. From what he has said to Liz and I it sounds like he asked for this move. Plus he has been miserable for weeks and I haven't seen him mope like this in years."

Michael's voice came out a little gruffer than usual "I am sure Manes isn't one to skip town just because of something as minor as a little breakup, he hasn't been back long enough to have had anything serious surely"

Maria sighed, "to be honest I don't think this is anything new, I think it is something old that has restarted, or rather had" 

Michael audibly swallowed, "What makes you think that? He has been gone a long time"

"Oh not long after he got back he was down at the bar one night and I was teasing him about having a new guy, he was all distracted, and how it was just like back in senior year. He had some mystery guy back then that he wouldn't tell us about, except how they shared their first kiss at the museum and he said to us, admittedly after a couple of beers, that he would stay in Roswell forever so long as that guy kept kissing him. Well mine and Liz's theory is that they picked up where they left off, particularly as Alex seemed so keen to stick around for longer than he originally planned and then suddenly a few weeks ago everything changed. I guess that guy stopped kissing him again"

She had expected Michael to interrupt her, to tease her about her and Liz's romantic ideals but instead his whole body was rigid. She was sure he had even stopped breathing as she had been talking. "Michael" she gripped his curls and shook his head a little "what gives?" 

Michael took a long slow breath. Maria could tell he was fighting for control, to moderate his reaction. For a moment she was confused, why would Michael care about Alex's relationship, they had always had a slightly odd thing, even at high school - some days they would be inseparable and then a distance would unexplainably open up between them and then equally abruptly they would be as thick as thieves again. She and Liz had long given up trying to get to the bottom of it although privately they had sometimes joked that it was like they were in a relationship.

Maria gasped. "Oh, oh Michael its you isn't it? You're the guy. YOU are Alex's guy. No wonder he never told us, we would have..." she trailed off. Michael still hadn't relaxed, if anything he was more tense now. Maria wasn't even sure how that was possible. "Ten years, ten whole years...wow" she whistled slightly. Then horror dawned on her "did you cheat on Alex with me? Is that the reason he is leaving town because one of his best friends slept with the love of his life without knowing it. He must hate me! Michael how could you do this to him?"

Michael's eyes remained fixed on the ceiling as he croaked out "love of his life?"

"Well I mean I thought I knew him well but now I am not so sure - I mean I still can't believe it's you! - and I don't want to speak for him...but Alex has carried a torch for you for a decade and I know that sometimes he smiles this little secretive smile and I can take a guess that it's because of you, and I know he wouldn't willing stick around near his dad for any longer than he had to without a very very good reason and yet a few weeks ago he was talking about staying forever..."

Michael cut her off "forever?"

She watched his scarred hand clench and unclench around the sheet. For a moment Maria considered how strange this was that lying here, still naked, she was about to try and convince the man in her bed to run after someone else. But Alex was someone special and clearly for him Michael was too. She marvelled at the idea of a decade of waiting and wanting - her longest relationship had barely scraped ten months - and stroked the hair under her hand softly "what are you waiting for Guerin?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the lovely comments - I did kind of chicken out of writing the second half but here goes!

Michael sped through the red light. He vaguely registered a car toot its horn at him but he could barely hear anything over the pounding of his own heart. Alex loved him. Alex had always loved him. And now he could be too late, all because of his own foolish pride. 

He realised as he shot through the deserted centre of town that so much of what they had fought about didn't really matter. He didn't care if they held hands at the drive-in, fed each other sundaes in the Crashdown or turned up to Manes family meals with Alex's arsehole father. All he wanted was Alex. To wake up to him every morning and fall asleep with him every night until they were old and grey. 

He turned Maria's words over in his head again and again. Forever. FOREVER. He smacked his hand on the steering wheel to emphasise to himself the enormity of what this meant. Alex hated Roswell, he knew that. Ever since they had first become friends in high school all Alex ever wanted was to get out. But now, ten years later and despite everything he was telling his friends he was willing to stay because of Michael. Admittedly he hadn't mentioned Michael by name, but this was secondary issue. It would all be irrelevant again if Alex left town. Who knows how long Michael would have to wait this time and all because he had been so stubborn.

It had been going pretty well really. Better than it had since the early days in high school. After that hiccup at the drive-in, Alex had shown up with pizza, beers and an apology. They had talked it through enough to end up in Michael's bed together and they had had a good few months until Alex's dad started his old threatening bullshit again. Michael had been so angry when Alex had hesitated just for a moment one evening and he had walked. He had been in bed with Maria by the following night.

He realised looking back on it that he hadn't even given Alex a chance to explain. Being open didn't come easy to either of them and in hindsight he saw that he hadn't given Alex enough. Sure Alex had been weak, but years of emotional bullying makes you weak, it made Alex still crave his father's acceptance. Michael had felt he craved it more than his love.

Michael grimaced in the dark of his truck as it dawned on him - he had never told Alex how he felt. He had shown him every day but he had never said it. Never said it to anyone who wasn't Max and Isobel. The only other person he had ever wanted to say it to was Alex. The person he should have said it to the most. 

He drew up outside the Manes family home. Maria had said Alex, his dad and two of his brothers, back on leave, were having dinner tonight. He hadn't been to this house in ten years, he had even avoided the entire neighbourhood since then. Since that horrible night, he winced at the memory of Jesse Manes' boot coming down on his hand. He took a breath and steadied himself - he couldn't be weak now. He needed to be strong. For him. For Alex. For them. He would never forgive himself if he let Alex leave again, Jesse Manes be damned. 

As soon as he knocked on the door he heard movement in the house - late night visitors were not to be expected - and then Jesse Manes opened the door. A step up from Michael and with the hall light illuminating him from behind he looked like an evil monster from a kid's book, lurking in the closet. "I am here to see Alex" Michael didn't bother with pleasantries - once someone has broken your hand he felt they were probably redundant. Jesse, without a word, made to close the door but turned at a movement behind him. 

Michael recognised the uneven thud of the crutch before he saw Alex. He looked stunned to see Michael standing on his father's porch. 

Michael put out his hand against the closing front door and pushed it back, "I need to speak to you. Please, Alex, please." Something about the desperate edge to his voice seemed to have gotten through to Alex who moved more decisively forward. 

Jesse Manes stuck out an arm and grabbed the door frame. "Alex get back inside. We don't want to ruin a nice evening together with this" he turned his head and sneered at Michael. Michael didn't notice though he was just looking at Alex, willing him to walk past his father and outside. 

"Give him five minutes Dad" All three of their heads snapped up as Alex's younger brother spoke, hovering in the doorway to the lounge. Michael didn't care much for any of Alex's family but at that moment, as Jesse let his arm drop and stepped aside with a sigh, he could have kissed his brother. "He is a criminal Alex, a drunk and a criminal." Jesse never could resist twisting the knife in even in his moments of 'kindness'.

Alex ignored his dad and stepped onto the porch. He hadn't broken eye-contact with Michael since he had seen him, and Michael felt a tiny flutter of hope in his chest.

They walked in silence down to the pavement and sat by the rear of Michael's truck. Alex stared at his feet and Michael glanced at the sky, steeling himself.

"Alex, I -"   
"Mich-" 

They both started to speak at once and then stopped. "Alex please let me go first" Michael said all in a rush, tripping over himself to get the words out. Alex continued to look at his laces, and Michael turned to face him slightly as he began "I have been an idiot Alex. I might be a genius but where you are concerned I have been an idiot. Maybe ten years ago it could be excused, I could be excused. We were just kids then. But now, there is no excuse. I was always so quick to blame you, blame your dad that I never thought maybe I deserved some of the blame too" he saw Alex start to open his mouth "no let me explain please?" Alex closed his mouth slowly and nodded, eyes fixed on the ground. "I never fought for you, I always accepted it and it's probably because I didn't think I was worth more, I never felt I deserved you and maybe I don't, maybe I never will but if you give me a chance, one more chance Alex, I swear to you that I will try every day. Because...because I love you Alex. I have always loved you. For every day of the last ten years I have loved you. Through all our ups and downs how I felt about you, how I feel about you, has never wavered and I cannot believe it has taken me ten years to tell you that I love you and I understand if you still feel you have to leave but I just wanted you to know. I didn't want you to leave again without knowing. And so yeah... that was it really..." 

There was just silence. Michael dragged a hand through his hair. He was too late. Maybe he had been ten years too late. Maybe it wouldn't have mattered even then, that their timing was always off.

He went to stand up but as he lifted himself off the pavement he felt a hand on his forearm. He paused, suspended slightly in midair as Alex finally lifted his eyes from the tarmac. His face was wet with tears, "Michael" Michael's heart skipped a beat at the use of his first name "I love you too". Michael felt his eyes fill with tears as his mouth broke into a grin. He plonked back down onto the pavement beside Alex. Part of him wanted to ask if Alex was sure, if it wasn't just pity, but the other part of him, the bigger part, the part he would focus on listening to from now on, that part had no doubts.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little fluff as an epilogue of sorts

The sun was streaming through the curtains of Alex's, of their, cabin windows but Michael didn't feel like getting up yet. They had been out late at the Wild Pony last night and he had been sufficiently drunk to serenade Alex with some out of tune karaoke, which had earned him a deal of mockery from their friends. The same friends who were coming over for a BBQ tonight. Alex had decided a housewarming was long overdue and with a typical lack of patience gone from zero to a hundred in five minutes and then spent the whole of yesterday panic cleaning and shopping for enough food to feed a hundred people before Michael had dragged him to the bar. 

He knew this was important to Alex, that this - their housewarming - was the clearest sign yet to the world that they were a couple, a serious one at that. 

As part of his efforts to be more understanding, to be better for Alex, he hadn't pressed the point about them "telling people" and he had been duly rewarded when Alex came back from work one day with a form he needed Michael to sign to have him listed as his next of kin. Alex's eyes had shone as he told Michael he needed to give it to his father to process. After that it had been easy - a night out, a girl too close to Michael and Alex had made it clear to her, and his friends, that Michael was his. He had copped a bit of grief from Isobel and Max for failing to tell them, but he had shrugged it off and he knew they were really happy for him even if Isobel's dismay that he hadn't told her had lingered a little longer than he was entirely comfortable with although Max had assured him she was just being dramatic.

He heard the door creak slightly and opened one eye "morning gorgeous" Alex said with a half smile, a tray of breakfast food - Michael got a waft of pancakes and bacon - expertly balanced in one hand, crutch in the other. He was wearing a pair of Michael's sweatpants, which sat low on his hips. Michael opened his other eye as he raked over Alex's body. There was nothing sexier than his man in his clothes and he felt his own body react accordingly under the sheets as his gaze lingered on the top of the sweats. Alex blushed and moved into the room. He put the tray down on the bedside table giving Michael the perfect opportunity to pull him onto him. Alex fell a little awkwardly and laughed as he let his crutch slip from his arm and steadied himself a hand either side of Michael's head "you do know we have a lot to do today before everyone arrives" he said in a mock cross voice.

Michael didn't say anything, just reached his arm out from under Alex and swiped a finger through the maple syrup on the pancakes. Alex raised his eyebrows at him as he put the finger in his mouth. Michael could see hm considering whether to laugh and get up or give in to the desire building in them both.

Alex put one hand into Michael's hair, dragged it backwards and then tugged gently, "you are lucky I find you irresistible Guerin" he murmured in a low voice as he bent down for a kiss. As his own hands travelled down Alex's back and into the waistband of the loose sweatpants Michael couldn't help but agree.


End file.
